


Making Things Work Together (One-Shot Collection)

by KittenQU



Category: Stardew Valley
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Request Meme, bachelors - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22381405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittenQU/pseuds/KittenQU
Summary: A collection of one-shots of all the stardew valley characters! Bachelors, Bachelorettes, villagers, maybe even the monsters...Be ready for heart warming tales, heart aching moments, and opportunities to grow and expand on the lore of the game!I LOVE REQUESTS! (Fluff, Angst, Smut, etc. I'm open to expand my abilities)Enjoy :)
Relationships: Shane/Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	1. Shane - Good Guy Routine

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the first one-shot!  
> Its the beginning of Summer, Year 2! Our farmer is named Lily, a girl who climbed the ranking of Joja tooth and nail to never find hapiness, driving her to Pelican Valley. Having found herself in this town, she tries her best to help others find it to, perhaps why she decides to be such close friends with our Chicken Man, Shane!  
> Enjoy :)

Its Friday evening and Shane is at the Stardrop Saloon yet again, standing rigidly in his personal spot next to the fireplace. He watches the room with little interest, the beer in his hand relatively full. He isn't planning on getting drunk tonight- he knows better than to do that on a Friday. Normally he doesn't care who sees him, but he is fully aware who is about to walk through the front door any minute now, and drinking without her is treason.

He smiles as the saloon's door swings open, the room suddenly being tamed as the farmer enters, her confidence dominating the area before she even steps inside.

“Hey guys!” Lily giggles, noticing that all eyes are on her. The door falling closed behind her, she lets out a soft giggle, brushing off their gazes with a simple flip of her hair over her shoulder, a polite smile on her face. "I got enough for everybody, don't worry!" she is referring to the basket in her hands with mason jars full of fresh honey and homemade jam, each of them decorated with ribbons tied into bows around them. She takes initiative and walks towards Mayor Lewis and Marnie, the amount of eyes on her slowly dissipating because everyone is aware that she will eventually stop by to say hello to them later in the night.

Shane has caught onto her little routine, having it memorized by now since Lily has been living in Pelican Town for over a year. She comes into the saloon dressed-to-impress with a cute sundress and wedges or her only pair of clean sneakers matched with spotless jeans and a colorful top, her hair always rolling off her shoulders in the most elegant fashion. She never comes without a basket of gifts she has meticulously prepared, handing them out to people in the saloon as thank-you gifts for something they may have helped her with earlier in the week. To top off her performance every Friday is her never fading polite smile, her voice never too loud and never too soft- always showing just the right amount of emotion.

She always starts with Marnie and Lewis before saying hello to Pam for a moment as she redirects herself to sit with Elliott and Leah. After conversating with them and catching up on the week's events, she migrates towards the bar to order a drink as an excuse to catch-up with Emily and joke around with Gus for a minute or two. She will then take a seat next to Pierre and talk business with him before giving a jar of pickles to Harvey, assuring him that she is taking care of herself on the farm as he begins to fuss.

When Harvey finally believes that Lily is telling the truth about taking care of herself, she will get up and catch Robin before she starts to dance with Demetrius, whispering a few things into her ear to make Robin laugh. After Robin dismisses herself to dance with her husband, Lily beelines for the arcade, remaining in their for about half an hour before emerging out, her drink normally almost empty. With the saloon's crowd beginning to thin, she goes and talks to Willy and Clint until her glass is completely empty, which she uses as an excuse to leave the table and return to the bar.

Lily can't help but be predictable- a creature of habit just like Shane. She likes to think she is a wild card, but Shane can't help but be amused as he counts her steps towards him, accounting that she takes two more steps than she usually does- probably because of her low wedge heels and the way her hips sway in her red sundress. He waits patiently as she marches over, their gaze colliding to which Lily gives him a shy smile. She casually takes her seat on the stool closest to him, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear after setting her basket on the floor.

Knowing the routine by heart, Shane is aware that Lily will sit there silently staring at him if he doesn’t acknowledge her first. Leaning against the wall as she takes a seat, allowing his shoulders to relax the first time all night, he looks at her and comments slyly: “Seems like you made it.”

“I always do,” Lily smiles, crossing her left leg over her right, her back leaning against the edge of the bar’s countertop lightly. “Who do you want to hear about first?” she asks with an eyebrow raised, cutting straight to the point of their conversation with a flicker of excitement in her eyes.

“Hmm...” Shane takes a moment to think, as if he didn’t already have an answer. He takes a thoughtful sip from his beer, earning a giggle from Lily as he makes her wait. “Elliott.” He decides.

She slaps her hands down into her lap as an excited gesture, her smile growing. “He wouldn’t stop talking today!” she complains, her voice instantly lowering back to a softer volume when Shane throws her a bug-eyed expression in response to her exclamation. She giggles, muttering a quick apology under her breath before continuing. “He decided he no longer wants to write his sci-fi novel and has moved onto compiling a book of poetry.”

“You think he is gonna put any haikus in it?” Shane asks, relaxing again, almost sounding genuine with his question. By the amused look Lily gives him, he takes her answer as a no, deciding to move on from the subject. “Robin?”

“She is starting to catch on that Sebastian smokes,” Lily admits, extending one hand towards Shane as she talks. He knows what she wants, willingly handing his glass of beer into her grasp. “I’m surprised she hasn’t caught on yet, honestly.”

“Yeah,” Shane nods in agreement, watching Lily lift his own glass to her lips for a thoughtful sip, leaning her head back ever so slightly. His mouth feels dry as he watches her, his heart beating just a little bit faster in his chest. She hands it back to him as soon as she takes her sip, her other hand reaching up to her face to wipe away any residue on her top lip with her thumb. Shane always spaces out when she does this- so casually demanding his own poison for herself. It used to annoy him, but he has accepted it as part of the routine despite always being left stunned with how comfortable she acts around him. Even more, he hates how much he enjoys it. “Hear anything else interesting?” he forces out, trying not to stare at her lips.

“Not really,” Lily admits, Shane taking back his drink. His hand brushes hers momentarily, giving him the same fit of butterflies in his stomach that it gives him every single time. “What’s new with you?”

This is part of the routine Shane dreads. His shoulders instantly turn rigid again as he returns to standing up straight. He takes a thoughtful sip from his beer before replying, mumbling his words. “Nothing, really. Jas is fine. Marnie is fine. The chickens are fine. Work is fine. Liver is fine,” he lists off what he hopes Lily wants to hear, finding it increasingly difficult to maintain eye contact with her.

“Have you decided to quit Joja and work for me on the farm yet?” Lily blurts out, twiddling her thumbs in her lap. She has probably been waiting all night to ask him that, rushing through the casual chatter to get to her point, practically hitting Shane over the head with a brick with how blunt she says it.

Shane shifts uncomfortably, all the butterflies in his stomach dying in an instant, wishing that he could revert back to the times when he could tell her to buzz off and leave him alone like he used to. “I told you I’m considering,” Shane mumbles under his breath, his eyes dropping to stare at the beer in his hands. He couldn’t look at her during this topic- it makes his stomach sick.

“Yeah, but that’s your nice way of telling me to buzz off,” Lily sighs, her hands going lifeless in her lap. “You know how I felt when I worked at Joja, Shane. You can see how happy I am now that I left...”

Shane grits his teeth, holding back any mean or harsh comments he could possibly bark towards her in hopes she would leave him be. As tempting as it is to go back to being alone, he promised himself not to rely on such methods to avoid confrontation after the last time he left Lily in tears, never wanting to relive such a haunting sight.

Lily finds it so easy to be vulnerable, ripping open her own chest to expose her heart to him even though Shane doesn’t feel worthy of seeing such a side to her. He wishes he could only see the side of her everyone else sees- the girl who comes in and commands the room on Friday evenings, always happy and caring, bearing gifts with a smile. Yet somehow he became one of the very few who witness her real side; the girl who trudges into the saloon late at night on weekdays covered in dirt, sweat, slime, and blood, sword still in hand. Just the thought of the condition she comes into the saloon some nights makes him want to vomit, wondering why he has to be the one who has to step in and be the good guy- Shane isn’t supposed to be the good guy.

“You know I don’t buy your charade,” Shane mumbles, wincing at his own words as they come out of his mouth, trying his best to stop the words from spilling out. “I see you come in every Friday dressed to fool everybody, giving everyone presents. But guess what else I see? What I _have_ to see?”

Lily doesn’t reply, realizing she has made Shane upset. She always pushes him to his edge too quickly, not knowing when to stop, but its just so easy to set him off sometimes.

“I’m here every night, Lily,” Shane begins with a heavy sigh, his hands moving slightly to create gestures of emphasis, “I see you come in on weeknights covered in dirt from kneeling in the fields with blisters on your hands from chopping down trees all afternoon. I see you come in with slime covering your jeans and enough blood and scrapes on you that I can’t tell if its a monster's blood or your own. I see you walk in with tears in your eyes after you get a message from that idiot back in Zuzu City...” he stops himself from continuing, realizing just how much his voice has raised, his tongue soaked in poison. He pauses and bites his lip, coming down from his rant to see Lily sitting with her hands in her lap, eyes glossed over as she stares at her finger tips.

Shane's knuckles are white from holding onto his glass too tightly, witnessing Lily about to cry as she the imagines things in her head Shane can’t begin to fathom. Seeing her upset rushes over him and sucks away any emotions he held before, bringing him back to a neutral state, pulling him back to the nights he sees her walking into the saloon with pain in her eyes.

He hates having to be the good guy.

“I’m... I’m sorry,” he whispers, extending his beer towards her as a peace offering. She lifts up her chin, a frown across her face as she slowly takes the beer from him, her finger tips brushing his knuckles in the process. “I didn’t mean to shut you down. I really... really appreciate your offer, but I am doing alright for myself right now." Shane swallows the saliva in his mouth, wishing he had drunk more before Lily came. Talking is just so much easier after you have been drinking. "Even you hit rock bottom before moving out here, so just let me decide when its time to change my life around, okay?”

Lily nods, taking a slow, hesitant sip from the glass. She doesn’t pass it back to him after she takes a sip, instead holding the beer between both of her hands in her lap. Her eyes avoid his for a few more seconds before she pulls the last bit of courage in herself to look at him.

“We...” Lily swallows hard, nervous about what she is going to say. “We are friends, right?”

Her question takes Shane back for a moment, sending a shock of energy through him. He blinks in confusion, his attention being fully set on her now. Why would she ask a question like that?

“Uh...” he scratches the back of his head, knowing he cant deny it. She is the only person in town besides Marnie and Jas that he will hold a conversation with- actually, she is the only person in town he would ever let take a sip from his own beer, nevertheless even talk to. He sighs, defeated. “Yeah, Lily. I would say we are friends.”

“Then... do you worry about me sometimes?” she asks, making the situation even harder for Shane to deny. Blood rushes to his cheeks, forcing him to blush.

“Of course I do...” he whispers as quietly as he possibly can. “You heard my little rant a minute ago, didn’t you?” He grows a small hatred in his heart for her in this moment, wondering why she has to torture him.

“Well,” Lily rotates Shane’s beer in her hands for a minute before lifting it up, offering it back to him. “I’m sorry I worry you, and I’m sorry I keep pushing you to quit your job at Joja. I just worry about you too, sometimes.”

He accepts the beer back as a peace offering, amazed at how simple Lily can be in some moments. How genuine her expression can appear to be, looking at him will the most apologetic eyes he normally sees on a dog’s face after they do something bad. In a way, he finds it endearing. He can tell when Lily is acting, but in this moment he can see how genuine her intentions are- how can he stay upset with her?

“Its okay,” Shane sighs, quickly finishing the rest of the beer. He knows the routine- he knows he has to be the one to officiate that everything is forgiven or Lily will worry about it until the following Friday. “You ready to head home?”

“Yeah,” Lily nods, standing up off the stool. “I- I uh, got you a little gift. It’s better than just a chili pepper this time,” she says in a small voice, reaching into the basket to take out a plain white box with ribbon tied neatly around it to keep it shut. The box isn’t huge- about six inches long and an inch tall, light enough to be comfortably held in one hand. She passes it off to him, who graciously accepts it, knowing there is no way to refuse one of her presents from experience.

“Thank you,” he chuckles, glancing down at the box and back at her to catch her gaze. They share a thoughtful connection, a pleasant silence filling the air around them for a moment.

“And,” Lily continues, breaking their eye contact by glancing down at her feet. “I promise to be more careful. Down in the mines and on the farm and what-not.”

“And,” Shane smiles faintly, not knowing what inspiration has suddenly struck him, thinking it might be the good guy act he has been forced into beginning to rub into his personality. “I promise to actually start considering your offer.” He barely understand the words coming out of his own mouth, but the smile that appears on Lily’s face tells him that he is saying the right things.

She lifts her chin up to look at him with a spark of surprise. “You mean that?” she whispers.

“Yeah... I’ll consider,” he scratches the back of his head with his free hand, wishing he could stop talking. Something about being around Lily makes him put his guard down, always ending up saying more than he has all week. “I have a feeling I am going to want to change my life around sooner or later...” He looks at Lily, the smile across her face holding no price tag as tears appear to be brimming in her eyes. Looking at her makes him realize why certain words are tumbling out of his mouth, his heart beating rapidly against his chest:

He wants the routine to change for her.

Lily tucks loose strands of her hair behind her ear, her grin breaking into a small fit of soft giggles as she lightly wipes away any tears forming in her eyes. “Well, uh,” she fumbles for words, not wanting to push her luck with Shane’s trust any further in case she accidently loses it. “Its pretty late- open your gift when you get back to Marnie’s ranch, okay?”

“Okay,” Shane agrees, the two of them instinctively beginning to walk towards the saloon’s front door together. Lily waves goodbye to Emily and Gus, giving a polite nod towards Clint and Willy’s table on the walk out while Shane opens the door for her. On her way out she brushes past him, making his stomach twist violently as he quickly follows behind her.

“Bye, Shane!” Lily grins, holding her now empty basket in one hand as they stand in the middle of town, having to go opposite ways. “Thanks for letting me hang around you.”

Shane knows he isn’t anyone special to be around- that being around her should be the privilege, but he doesn’t comment on it. He doesn’t want to ruin the fluttering in his chest looking at her smile gives him.

“Yeah... thanks for coming over to talk,” he forces out, taking one last look over her before she leaves. “See you around.”

Shane watches as Lily grins and awkwardly waves before turning around and walking off, her hips still swaying in her red sundress. He counts her steps as she leaves, watching her hair move slightly side to side with her gate across her back.

Its a bitter sweet end to the routine, but Shane’s heart always aches just a little more when she disappears from sight. With her gone, he lets out a long sigh, his neck giving out and his chin dropping to his chest.

  
The last hour has been full of more emotions than he has felt all week, giving him an itch to return inside the saloon and drink until he can’t feel his fingers. Yet looking down at the white box Lily gave him, he feels the fluttering in his chest again, a feeling he doesn’t want to shove away. So instead of returning inside he turns towards Marnie’s ranch, a smile on his face as he imagines all the possible things that could be waiting for him inside.


	2. Shane - Reflecting Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Farmer Shiloh is about to marry Shane in just a few days and both of them are feeling nervous. Shane comes over have a sleep over as an excuse to be with her before the wedding and the two of them lie in bed, remembering how much the other helped them grow as a person in just one year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This was a commission I got from tumblr that took me WAY too long to finish. I hope you all enjoy it because I think the train scene is pretty gosh darn cute!

Shiloh has been working in the fields all evening, the Sun no longer scorching the Earth with its rays. She has made amazing progress with her crops, all of them sprouting lush green leaves under her care since the beginning of Summer, now slowly beginning to produce beautiful crops.

Shiloh looks up at the sky to realize how dark it has gotten in just the past thirty minutes and lets out a heavy sigh. Working in the fields has become a comforting place; a place she feels closest to her grandfather, which makes leaving the soil and returning to the house more difficult some evenings. She stands up and takes off her gardening gloves, shoving them into her jean’s back pocket before she gathers her tools and begins to make her way across her property to her little house.

As she approaches, she realizes the little porch light she installed is on; a figure sitting on the steps with their face in their hands. She can already tell who it was just by the frays on their jacket in their silhouette.

“Shane!” Shiloh calls, watching his head pop up like a dog that just heard his name called. A grin slowly forms over his face and he stands up, meeting Shiloh halfway to help carry her tools back to the house. “What are you doing here so late?” she giggles, passing her axe and pickaxe over for him to carry, the two of them walking side by side back to the house.

“Jas is sleeping over at Vincent’s tonight so I thought we could have a sleepover too,” he admits, blushing slightly after saying his idea aloud. “Is that okay?” he adds on quickly.

Shiloh’s face lights up at the idea, setting down her tools at the side of the house and walking up the steps to the front door, Shane following quickly after.

“I think that’s a great idea,” she admits, swinging the front door open. “Have you eaten yet?”

“Not yet,” Shane says, slipping off his jacket and shoes at the door.

“I’ll make something real fast! I’m starving,” Shiloh tells him, moving into the kitchen. “And then the sleepover fun may begin!” she flashes Shane a mischievous grin, making him chuckle. He knew coming over was a good idea.

The rest of the night is spent eating omelettes Shiloh made, watching a scary movie on the tv, and attempting to play a few board games that neither of them could figure out how to play properly without Jas’s help. Eventually, Shiloh looks at the time and realizes that Shane still has to go to work in the morning. She manages to convince him to call it a night and they both brush their teeth and get changed into their pajamas, Shane already having his own drawer in Shiloh’s dresser.

“You almost done?” Shiloh calls to Shane as she crawls onto the bed.

“In a second,” he replies, walking out of the bathroom as he ties his pajama pant’s drawstring, his dark hair already sticking up in several directions from him running his fingers through it a few times too many. He is shirtless, rolling onto the bed from the opposite side of Shiloh. He always appears to be nervous when he shows off a little skin to her, his cheeks slightly flushed as he waits for her to mention it.

Both of them curl under the blanket, entering the warmth of the other person’s body heat being captured underneath. Shiloh continues to beam at him as they face each other, lying on their sides, only inches apart. Shiloh tangles her legs with Shane’s as he lies with his arm bent under his head as an extra pillow, Shiloh resting her cheek against her hand, her elbow propping her up ever so slightly.

“You look good tonight,” she assures him, lifting a hand to fix his hair. He lets out a breath, relief over taking his expression as he allows himself to fully relax into the mattress.

They gaze at each other for a moment, allowing the other’s presence to finally sink in. They both can’t believe it in a way- how this is it; this is the rest of their lives in just a few days. Everything around them feels like a blur that they are only bystanders to witness- but here they are, in each other's presence. This is it.

“We haven’t been this silent together since that night on the dock,” Shiloh cracks out in a soft giggle, taking the first step to break away the awkward shell of silence that bubbled them in.

“Yeah,” Shane smiles faintly. “Feels so long ago.”

“We have come a long way,” Shiloh admits, poking Shane’s chest with her finger in a teasing manner. “You have come a long way.”

“It would have been impossible without you,” he says, his smile not matching his serious tone and intentions. “I don’t know where I would be if you never came to the valley.”

Shiloh frowns, scooting closer to Shane to close the gap between them even more. “Let’s not talk about that,” she tells him, lifting her hand to stroke his cheek with her thumb. “We are getting married pretty soon so the what-ifs don’t matter.” She gives him a caring smile, her eyes flickering with a glint of excitement as an idea pops into her head. “Do you remember when you would come onto my farm asking if I’ve seen a chicken wandering around?”

Shane blushes lightly, remembering his past actions. “I pulled that trick at least twice a week,” he admits. “Lying that I lost my chickens just I had an excuse to try and run into you.”

“It was cute,” the farmer giggles to calm his nerves. “After the fourth time I wasn’t sure if you were lying or just a really bad rancher.”

“Both?” he offers as an answer, lifting his hand to rest on Shiloh’s side. She giggles in reply, which is the best response she could give as he runs his fingers gently up and down her waist. She drops her head down onto the same pillow Shane is using, slowly beginning to close the gap between them.

“What do you remember about me?” she asks, showing interest in keeping the conversation going. Putting Shane on the spot was never a good idea, but it always resulted in the best replies. He pauses for a moment after her words, thinking back over the last year as he slowly let her wiggle her way into his heart;

Shiloh would come to visit him at work at least once a week. She would strut in with a bag full of ores, completely ignoring Morris as he tried to question her.

“Ma’am, you can’t keep coming in here if you aren’t going to buy a membership…” Morris would try to tell her, but she would simply walk past him and walk by all of the aisles until she spotted Shane. No matter how hard he tried to ignore her and keep working, she eventually widdled him down to crack a smile at her horrible jokes.

“Excuse me, sir?” Shiloh would say, standing a respectable distance away from Shane as he restocked a shelf. “I am looking for a hunk of a man in blue. Do you know what aisle I could find one?”

Shane would chuckle to himself and look up at her, slowly standing. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We are out of stock of those- maybe come back next week.”

And Shiloh would purse her lips in a pout. “Hmm... Guess you will have to do. See you at the saloon?” she would ask and Shane would break into a suppressed grin and nod.

Shane blinks back to reality, Shiloh’s eyes wide with anticipation. It is a strange thought to even think that she was ever not in his life, her face once not only inches away- her eyes never there, pleading him to reply.

“I remember how you always pushed me,” Shane says softly. “Pushed me out of my shell no matter how much I protested.”

“You did that for me too, Shane,” Shiloh admits, her smile ever so slowly growing as she thinks back;

Shiloh was sitting on the lake’s pier right by Marnie’s ranch, contemplating if she should give up and go home. All her crops were dead, she didn’t have enough hay to feed her animals over winter, and she had passed out in the mine the night before and lost all her valuables. She was never going to be the farmer her grandfather had hoped- she wasn’t good enough; not strong enough.

Shiloh’s face had twisted in such a nasty and contorted way as she built a stack of her own self hatred inside of herself, her blood beginning to boil at her own stupidity. She stood up on the pier with a huff and grabbed a stone from the grass, slinging it over the lake so far it fell into the center of the pool of water, large rings singing out from where it plopped down, growing larger like her anger.

“Hey Shiloh,” a voice broke into her thoughts, scattering them before she had a chance to remember what they were. Shiloh swung around to see Shane awkwardly standing there at the other end of the pier, his hands stuffed into his pockets. Turning around revealed to Shane the nasty look on her face, his heart falling into his stomach at the sight. His eyes only softened at her hard expression towards him. “This pier ain’t no good for thinking,” he tells her. “I’ve tried; it doesn’t do any good. Let’s go somewhere else.”

Shane shifted nervously from foot to foot, his spine a little straighter as he attempted to appear like he knew what he was talking about. Shiloh, even in her own rage, couldn’t deny his offer when he obviously was trying so hard himself. Before following him she let out a great sigh, her spine going loose as a sign of giving up her hopes and dreams. Together they walked side by side, Shane taking the lead as they strode in silence; Shiloh blinded by her anger and Shane lost in his thoughts.

To Shiloh’s surprise, Shane took her up into the mountains, all the way up past the spa to the train station. They sat on the bench on the platform and waited together, Shane lost for the right words and Shiloh in utter confusion.

Shiloh threw Shane a bone, the silence giving her too much time to remember her thoughts from the pier. “Why did you bring me here?”

Shane bit his lip and stared at the train tracks. It has always been easier to talk when he wasn’t looking at her; like if he didn’t look at her, he couldn’t see all the doubts in his own head appear around her face. “Nobody ever comes up here except maybe Sebastian every once and awhile. The only noise up here is the birds, squirrels, and the trains.”

“I don’t get it,” Shiloh admitted, a faint smile over taking her face by habit. The whole thing was confusing, and she couldn’t help but see a shine of humor in it when Shane looked so nervous right next to her.

“Well think of this as a keystone choice in your life,” Shane shrugged. “If your thoughts are true, you’ll get right up and hop onto the next train that comes through without any regrets. You don’t know when the next train is coming so sitting here, you have an invisible timer counting down to figure out what you want to do next and your true feelings.”

“So…” Shiloh turned her head towards him, forcing him to lift his gaze to meet hers. “You are saying that if I want to, I can leave as soon as a train comes by?” Shane nodded, biting his lip. She frowned at the thought, averting her eyes away from Shane. Instead, she stared at the train tracks, her angry thoughts filtering back into her mind. Trying to swat them away, she tried to focus on Shane instead. “Have you ever gotten on that train?”

“No,” Shane admitted. “I never can convince myself that if I do, it’s the right choice; that I won’t have any regrets. I’ve gotten close but…” he ended his sentence with a shrug. Shiloh let out a hum of understanding, leaning back on the bench to the point she could almost slide off. Distracting herself from her problems wasn’t the right solution, and Shane was obviously trying to help her, so she might as well have given it her best shot. She closed her eyes and allowed the bird’s chirping to sink into her skin, the wind gusting by to enter one ear, cleanse her mind, and escape through the other with every impure thought from the pier.

“The train is coming,” Shane’s voice broke the silence alongside the sound of a train beginning to roar towards them. When Shiloh opened her eyes and looked, his head was turned towards the tunnel that the train was erupting from. Shiloh sat up straight and looked towards the train with him, her heart rate beginning to pick up.

The conductor sees two people waiting at the stop so he slowed down, putting on the brakes of the train. Eventually, a passenger car stopped in front of them, the door swinging open with an employee standing there patiently.

Shiloh and Shane both stand simultaneously, their heart beats thumping in sync. Shiloh felt a wave of all the bad thoughts she had crash over her; how useless she is, so incapable and untrustworthy when it comes to her grandfather’s prized possession. She should just get on the train and give up now. No one will miss her- she barely speaks to anybody in town anyway. She should just get on the train-

Shiloh’s thoughts are bluntly cut off when Shane abruptly takes hold of her hand, his face turning towards her. She met his gaze, a breath caught in her throat.

His eyes said it all, asking a simple question: “So, what will you do?”

Shiloh could see the care in his eyes; the same care that everybody in town looked at her with. Leaving wasn’t going to solve her problems- it would only create more because living in Zuzu City was what created her problems in the first place.

“I’m sorry,” Shiloh whispered, her face turning towards the employee. “I changed my mind. Thank you for stopping the train anyway.”

The employee tipped his hat politely and closed the cabin door, seconds later the train began to slowly start trudging along the tracks once more, picking up speed gradually until it was gone.

Shiloh shudders back to reality, thinking back to such an important day in her life. She blinks before refocusing her eyes on Shane, her smile fading and coming back.

“You’ve helped me so much in the past,” she admits. “I wouldn’t be in Pelican Town right now if it weren’t for you.” Shane always hates to admit anything to her when she is right, so he closes his eyes and gives a hum in reply. She giggles, running the back of her fingers along his stubble. “You should shave for the wedding,” she thinks aloud.

“I am,” he mumbles, enjoying her touch. Shane always shaved for important events if Shiloh was going to be there. She is such a bright light he would hate to be standing next to her looking like a dark bum. “Don’t I always?”

Shiloh smiles, thinking back to the first time she had seen Shane with a freshly shaven face. He was still drinking then, but had started to sloppily attempt to pick up his act. Shiloh had invited him to the luau, admitting she was afraid to go alone to put her own crops into the pot.

Shiloh had worn such a pretty sun dress that day, trying to impress the mayor mostly for Lewis’s sake. She was standing by Elliott’s cabin, waiting for Shane when he came off the bridge and stepped into the sand wearing shorts, a white t-shirt, and an unbuttoned Hawaiian print shirt over it all, a pair of sunglasses perched on top of his head in his hair. He looked like a tourist, Jas holding onto his one hand nervously as she scanned the beach for Vincent. As soon as she found her friend she whispered to Shane where she was going before running off across the sand, leaving Shane to wander over to Shiloh after he spotted her.

As he got closer, Shiloh realized the shy smile on his face, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. His sad stubble was gone, his dimples prominent and shouting at her. “Hey Shiloh~” he greeted awkwardly.

“Shane!” Shiloh grinned, opening her arms for an excited hug. “You look great!”

Shane uses this day to mark the moment he decided to really try to pick himself out of his own shame.

“You do,” Shiloh admits, re-grounding herself after her heart fluttered away after such a fond memory. “You are going to look so handsome.”

“I’m always handsome,” Shane chuckles, reaching out one arm to wrap it around Shiloh’s waist and pull her closer, their chests touching. He doesn’t say anything more, leaning his head in to close the gap between them completely, giving Shiloh a soft kiss while a faint smile is still on his lips.

Shiloh giggles as he pulls away after a long moment, shifting slightly to find a comfortable position. “Look at who is so confident now,” she teases in a whisper. “I never thought the day would come where you could do that.”

Shane knew what she was referring to: their second kiss.

Whenever Shane was around Shiloh, his palms would grow sweaty. He would turn into a nervous wreck, his leg always bouncing when they sat together and his hands hiding in his jacket’s pockets or in his hair when they walked together. He made everything difficult for Shiloh, honestly. Whenever she would take a step closer to him, he would scooch backwards. If she reached for his hand he would hide it in a pocket. When she tried to compliment him, he swatted it away, and if she tried to sincerely talk to him he found it impossible to make eye contact. It was baby steps with Shane, that’s for sure.

Though on evening at the very end of Summer, Shiloh had enough. She liked Shane- she really liked him and beating around the bush was getting exhausting. She is a farmer, after all! They don’t work around the trees and rocks, they chop them down and break them apart!

Shane was walking Shiloh back to her house after a game-night with Emily and a few other villagers. It was a fun time considering Shane had actually laughed, proving once again how much he has improved since he started attending therapy sessions. The two of them had already had their first kiss at the gridball game, but Shane never brought it up again; he never even tried to kiss her again after that. It felt as if they were just casually dating since that day, if you could even separate it from two friends hanging out.

Shiloh suddenly stopped walking in the path, the bus stop in sight. Shane stopped as well after a few more paces ahead of her, turning back towards her with an eyebrow raised.

“What’s up?” Shane questioned, one hand leaving his jacket’s pocket to run through his hair nervously. “Something wrong?”

“No…” Shiloh bit her lip, not quite sure what her plan was. She was just going with whatever little courage she had. “I was just thinking…”

Shane goes pale, the worst possibilities crossing his mind. “Oh… about what?”

“About… the gridball game,” Shiloh said cautiously, taking a step closer to Shane considering he was quite a few feet away. “That day was a lot of fun and so was today.”

“Yeah, it was fun,” Shane agreed, feeling Shiloh practically twist his arm with her words. She was giving him the same expression she always gives him when she wants him to make the next move, but he remains frozen in place. He always doubts himself at times like this- what if Shiloh was just being nice to him? What if he was reading her expression wrong?

“Shane…” Shiloh said in a more gentle tone, stepping right in front of him and tilting her chin ever so slightly upward so she was looking him in the eye. “Why haven’t you kissed me again?”

Shane’s heart dropped into his stomach, taken back by Shiloh’s abruptness. He goes to take a step back but Shiloh reached out and grabbed his arm, as if she was pleading him to remain close.

“Shane, please,” Shiloh tried her best to keep eye contact with Shane as he tried to avoid her gaze. “I’m tired of doing this. Do you like me or not?”

Shane closed his eyes tightly, his heart slamming against his chest. “Shiloh…” he mumbled, trying to suppress his panic. Shiloh realized her forwardness and let go, knowing she was being too impatient with him. She quickly takes a step back to allow Shane to gather his scattered thoughts.

Shiloh crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself awkwardly. “I… just want to know how you feel too,” she whispered into the warm night air of the Summer. “You wanted to kiss me what day but now you don’t.”

“I do!” the words burst from Shane’s mouth, his cheeks burning red. He opened his eyes to catch Shiloh’s gaze again and immediately regretted it, knowing he now had to maintain it. “I just don’t want to force something like that onto you. I don’t want to force myself onto you.”   
Shiloh cracked a small smile. “What if I give you full permission to kiss me right now?”

“I…” Shane glanced away from her before darting his gaze back to her when her words fully registered in her head. “I’ll kiss you then.” Shane saw the cheeky smile form across Shiloh’s face, her eyes daring him to come closer.

Shane knew he had no excuses now to back out, this being the opportunity he was waiting for. He dropped his hands to his sides and took a step towards her only for his body to freeze, the awkwardness of the moment swallowing his confidence.

He then took a step back, unable to take his chance. Yet Shiloh, done waiting for him, marched forward and grabbed the collar of his jacket and the hood, standing on her toes and pulling him down to her level, her lips meeting his.

She kept him only there for a second, letting him go to give him a chance to run off. Yet, he remained still, his eyes wide with surprise. He blinked a few times before suddenly resting his hands on Shiloh’s waist and leaning back down for another kiss, his thoughts shattered and instinct kicking in.

Shane blushes back in reality, thinking back to how scared he was around Shiloh’s company just a year ago. “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”

Shiloh returns his smile, resting her forehead on his. “Yeah, we have,” she whispers. Shane closes his eyes and enjoys the moment. None of it feels real, even when she is touching him. But sometimes when he closes his eyes and focuses on her breathing, he can convince himself it is all real. His eyes aren’t tricking him and that she is really here, about to marry him in a few days.

“I love you,” Shane whispers to her, wrapping his arm around Shiloh a little tighter, pulling her against him.

“I love you too,” Shiloh smiles, her eyes fluttering closed. “Good night.”

“Good night,” he replies in a mumble, placing a kiss on her forehead and allowing her to proceed to nuzzle her face into his neck and shoulder, their breathing patterns syncing as they slowly lose consciousness, asleep in each other’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed! Let me know in the comments below!

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to read more about Lily and Shane, or have any questions, let me know!  
> I'm open to any feedback/criticism y'all are willing to give! I want to become better!  
> Requests are open <3


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